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[Rmarsh]

When I was in high school I hung around with all the cool kids.....all we cared about was getting high and getting laid. But all the partying was turning some into alchoholics and hard drug users. I didnt want that for myself, I started to see them as losers that I needed to break away from if I was going to succeed.

They say you will become more like those who you associate with.
Now that I had graduated high school, I was working with two grown men who were both straight arrows...no drinking or drugs. Both had built their own homes. Working full time...learning to be a carpenter... gave me a sense of pride and independence. I read a couple of books that had a profound effect on my way of thinking.
I started planning my future, feeling like I had the power to make it happen.

[Rmarsh]

[QUOTE=I started planning my future, feeling like I had the power to make it happen.[/QUOTE]


First thing... was to save as much money as I could. My new friend and co-worker, Mike, advised me that...."working just forty hours a week is never going to be enough to get ahead." You should figure on trying to match your weekly take home pay by doing side jobs for cash." and that he had a lot of side work and needed help with them on nights and weekends. So I started leaving my regular job at 4:30 after my eight hours...grabbing something to eat..then go work on his side hustle jobs until at least 8:30 pm.
He was right.....doing that and working saturdays as well...basically doubled my regular pay....and it "all" went into my savings account.
Watching my account balance grow was encouraging and I had a plan for what to do with that money.
It was when I proposed to my girlfriend, that I told her I would be building a house for us.

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

When I was in high school I hung around with all the cool kids.....all we cared about was getting high and getting laid. But all the partying was turning some into alchoholics and hard drug users. I didnt want that for myself, I started to see them as losers that I needed to break away from if I was going to succeed.

They say you will become more like those who you associate with.
Now that I had graduated high school, I was working with two grown men who were both straight arrows...no drinking or drugs. Both had built their own homes. Working full time...learning to be a carpenter... gave me a sense of pride and independence. I read a couple of books that had a profound effect on my way of thinking.
I started planning my future, feeling like I had the power to make it happen.

I was seeing a stark contrast between the group of people I hung out with as a teen....and these two successful working men who were part of my new situation. I was working a lot more and hanging out less with those" friends".

One hot day, that summer of '76, I was stripping a roof off of an old house in Rochester. When I came down for a break, sweating and filthy, I saw a familiar car coming down the road, that pulled over near my vehicle. It was two guys that I knew from our high school days of partying and hell raising. The exchange went something like this:

"WTF are you doing up on that roof?". they asked

"Working for a living now" I said.

"Well we got a case of beer, weed, and we're heading for the beach" "C'mon with us!"

"I cant" I said "I'll lose my job"

"Tell your boss to go f u c k himself" They scoffed.

"No, you guys go on ahead." was my reply.

Pretty sure that was the last I ever saw of them.